The staffing industry is the only industry that shares their profit margins with their prospective clients. This trains prospective clients to make decisions based on price and nothing else.

This is the logic of most prospect clients: If staffing company A has the same tools and same candidate pool as staffing company B, then what’s the difference?

To keep this from happening to you, follow these three ideas:

1. Ask probing questions. Use W5H as a model: Who, what, when, where, why and how. “What is the challenge you are facing right now as you can’t get the right people on board?” “Who else besides yourself gets involved in the staffing in your company?” “Why are those problems significant?” “How do those problems affect you personally?”

2. Get right down to business. When you make first contact, build some sort of rapport by identifying things you have in common, but don’t seem too eager to be overly friendly. This is a huge mistake people in staffing make, in that they are too eager to build a relationship and they feel uncomfortable taking a leadership role in the sales interview. Your prospective client does not need another friend. Do enough to get them to feel comfortable, then direct your dialogue to focus on potential value.

3. Think through your narrative. Get help on this. Ask your executive team and fellow senior sales reps stories of how this narrative won business. How did they describe the uniqueness of your company? What stories or testimonials did they use which helped build credibility?

If you are just mindful of the fact that issues and problems are the main drivers for decisions, then price will be an afterthought and you’ll win the business.

Scott Love improves the profitability of staffing agencies and recruiting firms by showing them step-by-step systems of how to sell at margins higher than competitors, how to recruit the most desirable candidates, and how to shorten the closing cycle with repeat clients. Visit his training site for free tools, www.staffingsalestraining.com.